The IAEA has a number of special projects in the area of waste management, that offer direct assistance to Member States. One such project is the Waste Processing and Storage Facility (WPSF) design package for Member States with waste arising only from nuclear applications. This Architecture-Engineering (A-E) design package offers a reference design of a facility that can safely process and store waste typically generated
from isotope applications and nuclear research centres. Along the same lines is the special project on "spent radiation sources". This project provides direct assistence to Member States in handling, conditioning and disposal of spent radiation sources. One of the key elements of this project is the availability to Member States of on-site advisory teams to actually handle and condition spent radiation sources.
Another special project under consideration is the concept of regional repositories for the disposal of radioactive waste. It is very clear to the international community that such a concept has a very strong appeal from the technical, safety and economic standpoints. However, political acceptance and the general public "outcry" of
"not in my backyard" have prevented any serious international efforts from developing on this concept. The Agency has initiated a small effort on the regional repository concept and will start by attempting to clearly identify the large technical and economic benefits that could be received by the country that agrees to be the host for such a repository. A lengthy and challenging path to reaching the objective of a regional repository is foreseen, and the IAEA is convinced that the safety, technical and economic benefits that would be derived justify the efforts involved.
A new special project is the International Arctic Seas Assessment Project (IASAP) recently initiated by the Agency to evaluate the health and environmental risks posed by
radioactive waste dumping in the Arctic Seas. This programme will evaluate the impact on the environment from a series of dumpings in the Kara and Barents Sea and evaluate the feasibility of possible remedial actions. Recognizing the political sensitivity of this subject to many countries, this project aims to produce an independent and objective assessment of the situation through the involvement of leading international laboratories and scientists by 1996.
IX. CONCLUSIONS
In concluding, it should be mentioned that the management of radioactive waste is one of the critical issues surrounding the use and growth of nuclear energy. Member States must continually assess both the technical and public acceptance aspects of the issues involved, and when necessary, adjust plans and programmes accordingly.
Recognizing this, the Agency's waste management programme must be flexible to respond to the needs of Member States with activities that are both beneficial and timely.
REFERENCES
[1] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Containers for Packaging of Solid Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes, IAEA Tech.Rep.Ser.
No.355, Vienna (1993).
[2] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Interfaces Between Transport and Geologic Disposal Systems for High Level Radioactive Wastes and Spent Fuel, IAEA Tech.Rep.Ser. Vienna (to be published in 1994).
[3] LINSLEY, G., BELL, M., SAIRE, D., "The management and disposal of radioactive wastes", Safety Principles and Guidelines, Environmental
Consequences of Hazardous Waste, Vol.1, Swedish Radiation Protection Institute, Stockholm (1991) p.73-83.
[4] WARNECKE, E., International Consensus on Safety Principles, Safewaste 93, Vol.I, SFEN, Paris (1993) p.55-68.
[5] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Decontamination and Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities, IAEA-TECDOC-716, Vienna (1993).
SAFETY STANDARDS FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
E. WARNECKE
Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Management, International Atomic Energy Agency,
Vienna Abstract
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has established the Radioactive Waste Safety Standards (RADWASS) programme upon request by its Member States to provide evidence that radioactive waste can be managed safely. The RADWASS programme consists of a series of fifty-five international consensus documents covering all parts of radioactive waste management, i.e. the subject areas:
Planning Pre-disposal
Near surface disposal
Geological disposal
U/Th mining and milling waste Decommissioning
A single Safety Fundamentals document will set out the basic safety principles for radioactive waste management. Each subject area is headed by a Safety Standard.
Twenty-eight Safety Guides and twenty Safety Practices will provide further details for the implementation of safety requirements stated in the Safety Standards.
The programme was started in 1991 and is being carried out in three phases (Phase I: 1991-1994; Phase II: 1995-1998; Phase III: post 1998). Phase I includes twelve documents comprising the Safety Fundamentals, four Safety Standards, five Safety Guides and two Safety Practices. The Safety Fundamentals and the Safety Standards are planned to be submitted to the Board of Governors for review and approval in 1994. Four of the Safety Guides have been or will soon be submitted for publication and the fifth will be finalized by the end of 1994. One Safety Practice on
"Application of Exemption Principles" was published at the end of 1992 and the second Safety Practice of Phase I is planned to be finalized in 1994.
The thirty-seventh regular session of the General Conference in the 361st plenary meeting adopted the resolution "Strengthening Nuclear Safety" through the early conclusion of a Nuclear Safety Convention. It calls for "Measures to Strengthen International Co-operation in Matters Relating to Nuclear Safety and Radiological Protection" and requests the Director General inter alia to initiate preparations for a convention on the safety of waste management as soon as the ongoing process of developing the RADWASS Safety Fundamentals has resulted in broad international agreement. Approval of the document by the Board of Governors will be an important step toward convening the waste management Safety Convention.
It is intended to finalize work on Phase I (1991-1994) documents by the end of 1994.
Phase II envisages the initial preparation of thirteen documents comprising one Safety Standard, eleven Safety Guides and one Safety Practice. It is planned to start some of these activities in 1994.
1 Introduction
Radioactive waste is generated from the production of nuclear energy and from the use of radioactive materials in industrial applications, research and medicine The importance of safe management of radioactive waste for the protection of human health and the environment has long been recognized and considerable experience has been gained in this field Thus it is desirable to establish and promote in a coherent and comprehensive manner the basic safety philosophy for radioactive waste management and the steps necessary to assure its implementation
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been regularly requested by its Member States (MS) to provide evidence that radioactive waste can be managed safely and to help demonstrate a harmonization of approaches at the international level by providing safety documents
In response, IAEA has established a special series of safety documents devoted to radioactive waste management These documents are being elaborated within the Radioactive Waste Safety Standards (RADWASS) programme which covers all aspects of radioactive waste management The purpose of the RADWASS programme is to (i) document existing international consensus in the approaches and methodologies for safe radioactive waste management, (n) create a mechanism to establish consensus where it does not exist and (in) provide Member States with a comprehensive series of internationally agreed upon documents to complement national standards and criteria
2. RADWASS Programme Structure
RADWASS is organized in the hierarchical structure following the general framework of IAEA Safety Series documents and will be published as advisory documents under Safety Series No 111 The top level publication is a single Safety Fundamentals document which provides the basic safety objectives and fundamental principles to be followed in national waste management programmes
Documents below the Safety Fundamentals level, i e Safety Standards, Safety Guides and Safety Practices, will be organized into six subject areas
Planning, Pre-disposal,
Near surface disposal, Geological disposal,
U/Th mining and milling waste and Decommissioning
Each subject area is headed by a Safety Standard The Safety Guides and Safety Practices in the individual subject area will provide further details of implementing safety requirements stated in the Safety Standards
Standing Technical Committees (STCs) have been established for each of the subject areas to review the respective documents The STCs will contribute to a consistent approach m the development of RADWASS documents and provide the national expertise of participating Member States
The whole RADWASS programme is overseen by the International Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (INWAC) INWAC consists of senior experts from MS, who in their overall function to advise IAEA in its radioactive waste management programme, provide guidance to the RADWASS Programme INWAC provides advice on establishing the RADWASS publication plan and the scheduling of publications They review and approve the Terms of Reference for each of the RADWASS documents and review and approve the Safety Fundamentals and Safety Standards The close and intensive co operation among senior experts from IAEA MS is an important element in the elaboration of RADWASS documents
3 Publication Plan
The RADWASS programme was developed by IAEA in consultation with senior experts and upon advice from expert groups Initial work to structure the RADWASS programme began in early 1990 and full approval to execute the programme was given by the IAEA Board of Governors in September 1990
The RADWASS programme was established in 1991 to provide a series of twenty-four international consensus documents on the safe management of radioactive waste The initial programme included one Safety Fundamentals document, six Safety Standards and seventeen Safety Guides Safety Practices were planned to be added as necessary
At the time the RADWASS programme was first established it was already envisaged that a formal review of the programme would be undertaken in 1 993 to define publication production rates and the resources needed for the post-1 994 period INWAC held this planned review of the RADWASS programme on 22-25 March 1993 This meeting resulted in the completion and extension of the RADWASS programme to include 55 documents (Annex 1) In particular, Safety Practices not previously included were defined for all six subject areas of the RADWASS programme Additionally, eleven Safety Guides were added, covering topics such as licensing, quality assurance, safety assessments, definitions and environmental restoration
No modifications were made on the level of the Safety Fundamentals and the Safety Standards, except in the subject area "Decommissioning" "Environmental Restoration" will also be covered in this subject area, making it necessary to expand the respective Safety Standard at a later time
Priorities were assigned to individual documents as outlined in Annex 1 , with high ranking documents receiving first priority Despite an increase in document production rates it was still necessary to add a Phase III (post 1998) to the ongoing Phase I (1991-1994) and the planned Phase II (1995 1998)
4 RADWASS Operation
A standardized process is applied to the development of individual RADWASS documents (Fig 1) If necessary additional steps may be added
A very elaborate process is applied to the preparation of the Safety Fundamentals document and the Safety Standards, thus reflecting their importance and high
1 Safety Fundamentals/Standards
CM TC CM
INWAC SSRC Production time 3 5 years
SSRC
2 Safety Guides/Practices CM TC CM PC
I !
INWAC' SSRC
*for information Production time. 2 years
BG Board of Governors CM - Consultants INWAC International Waste
Management Advisory Committee MS - Member States Review PC - Publications Committee SSRC - Safety Series Review
Committee TC - Technical Committee Fig. 1. Process for the preparation of RADWASS documents
hierarchical level Before these documents are submitted to the IAEA Board of Governors (BG) for approval and to the IAEA Publications Committee (PC) for final editing, they undergo three Consultants Meetings (CM), two STCs, two INWAC reviews and a review by Member States Additionally, the IAEA internal Safety Series Review Committee (SSRC) has to check all Safety Series publications in order to ensure consistency and compatibility It is necessary to apply this elaborate process in order to exchange and harmonize views of Member States and to find consensus on the individual documents
The preparation of Safety Guides and Safety Practices is not as complex Before these documents are submitted to PC, they undergo two CMs, one STC and a review by SSRC The documents will be submitted to INWAC for information and approved by the Director General of the IAEA
5. Programme Status
Good progress has been made in the elaboration of RADWASS Phase I documents Detailed information on programme activities and current status is presented in Annex 2
In December 1992 the first RADWASS document "Application of Exemption Principles to the Recycle and Reuse of Materials from Nuclear Facilities" was published. This Safety Practice assesses various scenarios for exposures of humans to radionuclides from such materials and presents the results of these assessments
In the MS review of the Safety Fundamentals there was good agreement on the main features of the document Consultants' Meetings were held in late 1993 and early 1 994 to consider MS comments The revised draft is expected to be ready for submission to the BG in 1 994
The Safety Standard "National Radioactive Waste Management System' has progressed to the point that submission to MS for review should occur in the first half of 1 994 Since this Safety Standard provides input into the other Safety Standards, namely "Pre-disposal Management of Radioactive Waste", "Near Surface Disposal of Radioactive Waste", and "Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities", these documents, after appropriate revision, are also expected to be submitted for MS review in 1 994
Two Safety Guides, namely "Classification of Radioactive Waste and Siting of Geological Disposal Facilities have been submitted for publication The Safety Guide on "Siting of Near Surface Disposal Facilities" has received SSRC approval.
The Safety Guide "Recommended Clearance Levels for Radionuclides in Solid Material" is under SSRC review. Preparation of the Safety Guide "Pre-disposal Management of Low and Intermediate Level Waste from Medicine, Industry and Research" began in 1 993 The document is planned to be finalized by the end of 1994.
The Safety Practice "Application of Exemption Principles to Materials Resulting from the Use of Radionuclides in Medicine Industry and Research" has been reviewed in CMs, an Advisory Group Meeting (AGM) and a TCM The document is now planned to be submitted to SSRC
6. Convention on the Safety of Waste Management
The thirty-seventh regular session of the General Conference in October of 1 993 adopted the resolution "Strengthening Nuclear Safety through the Early Conclusion of a Nuclear Safety Convention. It requests the Director General inter alia to initiate preparations for a Convention on the safety of waste management as soon as the ongoing process of developing the waste management Safety Fundamentals has resulted in broad international agreement
Such a Convention will result in a stand alone document and will have a legally binding character for signatory states It has to be initiated and prepared with great care This applies to its timing as well as to its contents. Further guidance is expected in these questions from MS At present it seems to be agreeable to initiate work on a waste management Convention after the RADWASS Safety Fundamentals and possibly also the Safety Standard on the national waste management system have been approved by the Board of Governors A "bridging process" will be able to identify those elements of the RADWASS documents that should be used for the formulation of a waste management Convention Further impetus for such a Convention could be expected from the International Seminar on "Requirements for the Safe Management of Radioactive Waste" organized by the IAEA and scheduled for 27 August 01 September 1995 This Seminar will provide a forum for the discussion of results from Phase I of the RADWASS programme and of the waste management experience in MS Conclusions from such discussions could be provided as input in drafting the waste management Convention
to
00 7. Safety Principles and Requirements
Safe management of radioactive waste involves the application of technology and resources in an integrated and regulated manner so that occupational and public exposure to ionizing radiation is controlled and the environment protected in accordance with national regulations and international consensus documents To meet this overall objective, the following internationally agreed upon safety principles, defined in the most recent draft RADWASS Safety Fundamentals entitled "The Principles of Radioactive Waste Management", need to be applied
Principle 1. Protection of human health
Radioactive waste shall be managed m a way to secure an acceptable level of protection of human health
Principle 2. Protection of the environment
Radioactive waste shall be managed in a way that provides protection of the environment.
Principle 3. Protection beyond national borders
Radioactive waste shall be managed in such a way as to assure that possible effects on human health and the environment beyond national borders will not be greater than what is acceptable within the country of origin.
Principle 4- Protection of future generations
Radioactive waste shall be managed in a way that predicted impacts on the health of future generations do not exceed relevant levels that are acceptable today.
Principle 5: Burdens on future generations
Radioactive waste shall be managed in a way that will not impose undue burdens on future generations.
Principle 6. Legal framework
Radioactive waste shall be managed within an appropriate legal framework including clear allocation of responsibilities and provision for independent regulatory functions
Principle 7- Control of radioactive waste generation
Generation of radioactive waste shall be kept to the minimum practicable Principle 8. Radioactive waste generation and management interdependencies
Interdependences among all steps in radioactive waste generation and management shall be appropriately taken into account.
Principle 9 Safety of facilities
Safety of facilities for radioactive waste management shall be appropriately assured during their lifetime.
In order to achieve the safety objective of these principles, a national radioactive waste management system must be established Such a system must specify the objectives and requirements of a national strategy for radioactive waste management and the responsibilities of the parties involved It must also describe other essential features, e g licencing processes and safety and environmental assessments. The elements of such a national radioactive waste management system are summarized in the most recent draft Safety Standard "A National System for Radioactive Waste Management" which assigns the following ten responsibilities to the State, the regulatory body or the operators
Responsibilities 1 Establish and implement a legal framework of the State: 2 Establish a regulatory body
3 Define responsibilities of waste generators and operators 4 Provide for adequate resources
Responsibilities of 5 the Regulatory Body 6 7
Apply and enforce legal requirements Implement the licencing process Advise the government
Responsibilities 8 Identify an acceptable destination for the radioactive waste of the Operators 9 Safely manage the radioactive waste
10 Comply with legal requirements
Achievement of the safety principles outlined in "The Principles of Radioactive Waste Management" also requires the definition of technical safety requirements for each individual subject area in radioactive waste management. These requirements are being formulated or will be formulated in the RADWASS Safety Standards for the respective subject areas (pre-disposal, near surface disposal, geological disposal, U/Th mining and milling waste and decommissioning)
8. Summary
The preparation of documents within the RADWASS programme has made good progress A first publication was released in 1992 Most of the eleven RADWASS Phase I documents will be submitted for publication in 1994
The RADWASS programme was reviewed by INWAC in 1993 It was supplemented as appropriate and Phase II was defined A Phase III will be necessary to accomplish the extended programme The basic safety principles in radioactive waste
The RADWASS programme was reviewed by INWAC in 1993 It was supplemented as appropriate and Phase II was defined A Phase III will be necessary to accomplish the extended programme The basic safety principles in radioactive waste